~~~~~*~~~~~

Clare moped around her office the next day, wondering what had happened between JC and the brunette that he’d been dancing at the club. She'd tried to snap out of her thoughts as she sat behind her desk and looked at her laptop screen, but Clare couldn't seem to concentrate on anything work related. She still had schedules to finish for the upcoming week's performances, and Lou Pearlman, the group's executive director, had requested a copy to be faxed through to him by the end of the working day. Clare tried her best to focus on her work, but she was fighting a losing battle. Thoughts of JC and the mystery woman refused to be pushed aside.

As Clare contemplated going to get herself another cup of coffee, she was startled by Libby, who burst suddenly into her office.

"Jeez, you look as bad as I feel!" Clare joked as Libby headed straight over to the couch by the window and flopped down onto it, lying with her head facing the side so that she could look at her friend. Libby smiled wryly at Clare's comment.

"Well, if you feel as bad as you look then you shouldn't 'ave come into work today!" Libby quipped back.

"Wow, someone's cheerful today!"

"Yeah, well, after no sleep at all last night I took a good long look in the mirror this morning and decided not to let what happened last night ruin my life."

Clare nodded a few times and smiled at her friend. "I think that's probably a good idea."

~~~~~*~~~~~

As the girls began to resume their morning's work they flicked on the CD player that was a permanent feature of Clare's office. They regularly listened to music during the day as it helped them to be more productive, and filled the silences in the office which always seemed more obvious when the guys were away.

Libby pressed the button on the player that changed the input from radio to CD and straight away the sounds of *NSYNC's first album could be heard coming through the speakers. The women would never admit it to the men's faces, but when the guys were not around they nearly always listened to their music. If caught they would have tried to explain that it was a part of their job, but secretly they both just liked the album very much.

As they began to hum and sing along to the music, an unexpected woman's voice coming from the doorway startled the pair of them.

"Hi honeys', I'm back!"

Clare looked up and instantly recognised the face of her friend beaming back at her. Rushing to her feet, Clare crossed the room to pounce on the woman before wrapping her up in a giant hug. "Jamie! How was Canada?"

Jamie was *NSYNC's assistant tour manager and a close personal friend of both Clare and Libby. She had started working for the record label at the same time as Clare, and both women had formed a close bond as they'd tried to get to grips with their new jobs. Having the support of each other had also strengthened their defence against the boys' practical jokes, which had seemed almost constant in their first few months of working with the group. All of Jamie's family lived in Toronto, Canada, and she had just returned from a fortnight’s vacation to visit them.

"Cold and busy," Jamie replied as she headed across the room towards the couch where Libby was seated. At her arrival, Libby had sat upright and tucked her feet underneath her body to make room for Jamie to sit down. "I spent more time working than I did anything else," Jamie chuckled, her dark eyes shining at Libby as she reached across for a hug.

"I hear that," Clare muttered as she turned to grimace at the mountain of paperwork on her own desk. "This 'win a date with *NSYNC' competition is so much hassle, I'm beginning to wish we hadn't thought of it!"

"Try organising a tour," Jamie responded sarcastically. "It's a nightmare, and it doesn't seem to matter how often we do it, it still becomes a pain in the ass. I've literally just got back from vacation and already my desk is groaning under the weight of the work I still have to do. Plus, my dear mother suggested that I bring my delinquent cousin back with me for a vacation. Does hell know no bounds?"

There was a short silence and then Libby began to laugh. For no matter how much Jamie protested, she could never convince anyone that she hated her job. It was common knowledge amongst everyone that they knew that she was a borderline workaholic.

"Come on then," Jamie said with a wry smile as she playfully nudged Libby in the ribs. "I've been gone for two weeks so you'd better start filling me in on what I've missed."

Libby pulled a face and glanced over at Clare. She'd been hoping that her friend wouldn't ask. "Well, Dan and I broke up. I found out that he was cheating on me." Jamie kept her face composed. She wasn't particularly surprised by Libby's news but she didn't want to show it. She'd never taken much of a liking to Dan, and was glad that her friend was finished with him. She was sorry to hear that it had ended so badly, though.

"Oh, right. When did this happen?"

"Last night."

Jamie turned to look at Clare for confirmation and the two women shared a look that said way more than words ever could. Before things became too gloomy, Clare broke out into a small smile and continued to tell the story of the night before.

"What she hasn't mentioned is that Justin nearly got himself into a fight over it. Fortunately, Libby was able to stop him from getting his ass whooped, but he still managed to get a few punches in. Then Dan went to hit Libby, and Chris stepped in—"

"Busy night!" Jamie joked as she turned back to face Libby. She kept her voice light but the concern in her eyes for her friend was evident.

"Our Chris was a hero," Clare added proudly.

"I'm surprised," Jamie said as she turned back to Clare, "I thought you were going to tell me that Chris had the pleasure of planting one on him, not Justin."

"Now, Jamie," Clare chided playfully, "that's not a good image for our boys. You don't want to encourage violence, do you?" Jamie smirked at Clare, but refused to take back her words. She wouldn't have blamed any of the men for becoming angry with Dan over the way he'd treated Libby.

"So where is everyone today?" Jamie asked as she attempted to change the subject to something more positive.

"By everyone do you mean the guys?" Libby asked her sarcastically, her sense of humour returning now that the awkward conversation was over with. "If so, they're in the dance studio downstairs rehearsing."

Jamie nodded and smiled fondly at the younger woman. She wouldn't bring up the 'Dan subject' again unless Libby mentioned it herself, but there was one question niggling away at her that she couldn't resist asking. "So how are things with you and Curly now, Sniper?"

"Hey!" Libby objected with a twinkle in her eyes. "Only Justin gets away with calling me that!"

"And I wonder why!" Jamie teased as she raised her eyebrows in Clare's direction. "And how about you and JC?" Libby sucked a breath in between her teeth causing Jamie's brow to furrow in confusion. She watched the smile disappear from Clare's face and wondered if she'd somehow managed to put her foot in it.

"Not good," Libby answered on Clare's behalf and shot her friend a sympathetic smile.

"No?" Jamie asked in a concerned voice. She was surprised to hear that things weren't okay between them. JC was so laid back that he was hardly ever the cause of any drama. Given the fact that Clare usually let him get away with anything, there was rarely an instance that disturbed their blossoming friendship.

"He was with someone else at the club last night," Clare explained in a sharp tone as she met Jamie's eyes.

Jamie cringed. "Ouch."

Both Clare and Libby nodded back. "Exactly."

~~~~~*~~~~~

The members of *NSYNC were in the dance studio with one of their choreographers going over the steps for some of their newer songs that they had yet to perform live.

It was a matter of importance that they were on top of their choreography at all times as the reputation of the group relied on them being perfectly in–sync when they performed. Although they were still awhile away from going on tour, the group still had a few scheduled television performances coming up and they wanted to be able to showcase some of their new material.

"Come on, Justin. I need your full concentration, please," Sara Ward called to him as he rolled around on the floor clutching his stomach as he laughed.

Sara had graduated from the Oklahoma City University's Ann Lacy School of American Dance and Arts Management a little over a year ago, and had surprised herself and everyone that she knew by walking straight into a job with *NSYNC.

Sara was young at only twenty two, but her training had made her the best possible person to bring a youthful, funky edge to the group's dancing. She liked their music very much, and had quickly discovered that they were easy to work with and didn't treat her differently because of her age. If anything, it had helped her to fit in.

Even though they had the tendency to be a little immature sometimes, on the whole Sara found the men to be hard–working and dedicated to their craft, something that she respected. On the odd occasion when they did clash artistically, the six of them would sit down and work it through until they reached a point where everyone was satisfied. Sara felt very lucky to have found herself a job where she could utilise her talents and be respected for her opinions.

As they'd begun going over the new routine for 'You Got It'—which Sara had just finished choreographing—JC had requested that she add in a new move that he'd been working on into the middle section of the dance. Sara had been trying her best to find a way to include it seamlessly when Justin had started to lose interest and had begun to muck about.

"Chris, show me the move again," Sara asked him and Chris immediately let out a groan of annoyance and let his arms flop noisily by his side. He didn't come as naturally to dancing as the other members of the group, but he put one–hundred percent into trying and it was never obvious from his live performances how much he struggled with the choreography.

Sara followed Chris' movements in the mirror as he performed the middle section of the routine with the new move included. Her blue eyes never left his body as he danced. When he was finished Sara nodded her head in satisfaction and grinned over at JC.

"Good. I think it works really well," she said before clapping her hands together to bring all of their attention back to her. Although Justin was by now on his feet, he was still sniggering away to himself about something, and Sara thought it best to get his focus back on the rehearsal as soon as possible.

"So if we start with..." she said as she began to run through the routine whilst facing the wall of mirrors that had been behind her, "move onto the next section, and then go into JC's move before the chorus, I think it should flow nicely."

Each of the guys nodded and agreed that her and JC's suggestions went well together. Sara felt a flutter of pride in her stomach as she realised that she'd successfully completed yet another routine for the group. If things continued in such a positive way, Sara thought to herself, then she'd have a lot to be proud of when they finally went on tour.

"Okay, great. Now, let's try it with the music!"

~~~~~*~~~~~